Kota Kinabalu: City Hall on Tuesday launched a two-month amnesty in the hope of collecting an accumulated RM58 million in parking fines issued since 2003.

Mayor Datuk Abidin Madingkir said City Hall is offering a flat price of RM30 to those who settle their fines before Oct 3 as there are 344,724 tickets which had not been settled until June this year.

"Assuming everyone pays up, City Hall would collect around RM10 million after discount. "A total of 608,809 tickets have been issued from 2003 but only 264,085 fines were settled," he said during the launching of the programme, here.

Vehicle owners can also check their outstanding fines via a dedicated website through the City Hall official website, he said.

Madingkir, however, said court-related cases and special compounds issued to lorries, trailers, heavy machinery, taxi, mini buses, tour buses and motorcycles are excluded from the programme.

The special compound, which is a RM300 fine, is due from offenders who had been reported in by the public and repeat offenders, he said.

He said the amnesty is a gift to vehicle owners in conjunction with the upcoming Merdeka and Malaysia Day celebrations, adding that some internal setbacks had also prompted the move.

Madingkir said City Hall had been troubled by the lack of manpower, computers and equipment, training, as well as weaknesses in record system, information access and storage and limited access to the Road Transport Department database.

Five counters are available to pay the fines, namely City Hall headquarters, Damai, Centre Point, Urban Transformation Centre's (UTC) sixth floor and KK Plaza's first floor.

All the counters will be opened during office hours from Monday to Friday, except for UTC, which opens the whole week, except on public holidays, from 8am to 9pm.

He said City Hall will also launch a mass issuance of notices to parking ticket defaulters after the amnesty programme ends this October, saying refusing to pay up is also an offence under the City Hall's 2003 By-laws.

Madingkir said City Hall would use its link to the Road Transport Department database to access information on the vehicle owners who are defaulting.

"Those who receive reminders after this will no longer enjoy discounts or 100 per cent exemption on access charges.

"Instead, defaulters will be charged 20 per cent extra from the total penalty or access charge on each of their outstanding parking charges," he said.

He reminded vehicle owners to pay up all their outstanding parking tickets before the notices are issued to them or risk being brought to court.

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